Friday Night at the Dojo 2/22/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Randy, Larry, Greg, and Trey.

New mats, new mats, new mats. We replaced the mats that have been around since the dawn of martial arts in this area with some brand new ones. We purchased the puzzle-type mats. I think they're 1-5/8" mats from greatmats.com, but I'm not sure.

The benefits to the new mats? They get to stay in place. We don't have to put them down and pick them up around each session.

The bad side? They're a little firmer for falling. I haven't tried a big fall. On the plus side, they do make popping up a little easier after a front fall.

Ukemi: Ukemi went well. Getting pleasant reviews on the big falls

The Walk: as usual.

Releases: With Larry. We explored his body drop entrance and added more off-line, as he was going too deep

Techniques:

Larry and I worked on 10, 11, 12, and 13. Left-sided.

Need to remember that there is an initial off-balance for #10.

Need to keep good posture on the arm bar finish for #11.

Need to stay behind uke's elbow for Kote-gaeshi

Need to wait for uke to recover after the first off-balance on Tenkai-kote-hineri.

Aftermath: A tight left calf muscle. Not sure of the cause.